With the rise in popularity of people growing their own fruit and vegetables, it may be surprising to know that many urban allotments have soil with lead levels above UK guidance values.
With the rise in popularity of people growing their own fruit and vegetables, it may be surprising to know that many urban allotments have soil with lead levels above UK guidance values.
The Environment Agency introduced new guidelines in 2014 stating that 80mg of lead per kilo of soil was considered safe. Newcastle City Council knew that its allotments had much higher levels. They had previously investigated allotments in the city and found very few with lead concentrations below this guidance value. In fact, the average lead level was significantly higher, at 550mg per kilo.
This left the city’s allotments at risk of closure, despite them having been used for decades to successfully grow fruit and vegetables.
Recognising the social and health benefits that gardening brings, the Council and was keen to ensure it could keep its allotments open. It commissioned a study from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities to investigate whether the level of lead in the soil was reflected in the levels of lead in the blood of gardeners. They would be exposed to lead whilst gardening and from eating the vegetables they grow, meaning they could potentially face health issues as a result.
Read more at Newcastle University
Photo credit: klimkin via Pixabay
